Seawalls, dismissed by mayor, get attention

Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't believe in seawalls. That much he made clear shortly after Superstorm Sandy: "It would be nice if we could stop the tides from coming in," he proclaimed in December. "But King Canute couldn't do it, and neither can we."

With a reference to the 11th century Danish ruler, the mayor dismissed the notion of seawalls with characteristic certainty. But the possibility of storm surge barriers in New York Harbor is alive and well inside the administration, which is preparing a master plan for rebuilding a more storm resilient city. The idea is "the elephant in the room," one administration official said, and addressing it one way or another will be a major component of the report expected to be released in May.

"All options are on the table and will be evaluated in the report," a spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corp said.

The report is expected to be vast in the number of recommendations it puts forward. It is likely to include initiatives along two axes: a deep dive into helping to rebuild the five most affected areas of the city—Lower Manhattan, Staten Island, the Rockaways and Breezy Point, Red Hook and Coney Island. And it will include citywide recommendations for dealing with climate-related events in the future.

An Economic Development Corp. spokesman said the team has consulted with hundreds of experts and community leaders as part of its research.

Perhaps most pointedly, the administration has tapped into its deep bench of former officials who now work in the private sector but whose concern for the city and loyalty for their old boss remains strong. To help craft its rebuilding master plan for resiliency in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the city has brought the old band back together. The Dan Doctoroff band to be exact.

Last month, a group of former Bloomberg administration heavyweights—many of whom left the administration for posts in the private sector—reconvened around a conference table to discuss how to best roll out the post-Sandy roadmap and recovery plan.

"There's a lot of loyalty among the old Doctoroff crew," said a former Bloomberg administration source, especially among those who worked on PlaNYC, the city's 2007 sustainability initiative that introduced New Yorkers to the idea of congestion pricing.

Three high-profile former officials now work in the real estate industry, whose new interests are sure to be affected by the blueprint. James Whelan, Mr. Doctoroff's former chief of staff, is senior vice president of public affairs at the Real Estate Board of New York; David Lombino, a former executive vice president at the city's Economic Development Corp., joined Two Trees Management last year and is director of special projects; and Ashley Cotton, a former senior policy adviser in the administration, is director of external affairs at Forest City Ratner Cos.

Adam Freed, a former deputy director of the city's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, who is now director of the Nature Conservancy's Global Securing Water Program at Columbia University also attended.

Administration officials who participated included Larry Blackmon, a former chief of staff at the Department of Small Business Services, who is now a deputy parks commissioner; and Karen Becker, a projects manager in Parks Planning. Tokumbo Shobowale, former chief of staff to former Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, was also consulted. Mr. Shobowale is currently the city's chief business operations officer.

At the highest level, Mr. Doctoroff himself is in on the discussions. The former deputy mayor, who is now president of Bloomberg L.P., confirmed via email that he had advised the city in informal conversations on the post-Sandy plan.

The leader of the entire initiative is himself an alumnus. In December, Mr. Bloomberg tapped Marc Ricks, a former Doctoroff chief of staff who is on a six-month leave of absence from his post at Goldman Sachs, to help spearhead the Sandy plan alongside Economic Development Corp. president Seth Pinsky. It was Mr. Ricks who called upon his former colleagues for their input.

Former Bloomberg staffers have been consulted by the city on a less formal basis in the past, sources said. And this group is certainly not spearheading the effort—the Economic Development Corp. has hired 30 full-time staffers to work on the report, and public outreach to elected officials has been a more important component. But assembling the alumni crew to sit down for a formal yet pro-bono advisory meeting highlights the degree to which Mr. Ricks and the administration want to get outside the government echo chamber, sources said.

The administration also wants to craft a report that stands out. Part of the upcoming challenge for Mr. Bloomberg, long a champion of reducing the city's carbon footprint, will be making his plan the most comprehensive of those being offered by elected officials, all of whom are vying to be seen as the primary post-storm leader. Sen. Charles Schumer has taken credit for getting funding for a $20 million coastal protection study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he wants to spend $400 million on home buyouts in the state's floodplains. The city hopes its alumni network can help it craft a plan that can make a splash.

That's one reason why Mr. Bloomberg's Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency has consulted with hundreds of stakeholders, a spokesman said.

"These include community leaders and elected officials, scientists, academics, environmental groups, a wide range of government agencies, and many others, some of whom previously worked for the administration," he said. "We look forward to continuing these discussions when we publish the report this spring."

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